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Tracfone Samsung Galaxy J3 Luna pro 4G LTE on HSN - some questions

Hi. I'm sort of new to tracfone. I have a LG 442bg flip phone that uses ATT on tracfone and it works pretty good compared to my last service provider - tmobile.

I picked up a few of the older BYOP smartphone sims that give triple minutes (I assume it still works?) a few days ago from a Rite Aid which had a bunch of them for $1 each. I was thinking about maybe using one with a Lumia 640 I have which I really like that is on tmobile but the phone is on the old side and Microsoft seems to be abandoning Windows mobile in general and definitely has stopped supported Win 8.1 so I'm considering other options.

So I was looking at some Android phones and this particular model the Luna pro seems to have good reviews (though not many since it is new) and specs save for the camera (though people seem to like the 5MP camera on it).

So I have a few questions about it. Does anyone here have this phone? Any thoughts on it?

It's being offering on HSN for $99 and comes with 1200 minutes etc and 1 year of service.
I asked tracfone CS if this phone can be used with regular airtime cards and they said yes it works with smartphone only plans and airtime cards. Does that sound right with this phone does anyone know? I've learned in dealing with them that they don't always give accurate info.

Also, with HSN, does anyone know if you can use the $25 coupon they give you when you give your email to them to buy Samsung phones? I noticed it states cannot be used with Samsung large items or words to that affect. I tried to place an order and it would not honor the coupon so I didn't complete the order. Can you use it to buy a samsung phone?

Look at the information on the box pictured here. The phone is Smartphone only Airtime.

Originally Posted by Tracfancier

If you cannot get the HSN $25 discount (post 2165):

Thank you Tracfancier. Appreciate it. So I guess once again I'm told nonsense by customer service at Tracfone regarding the luna pro being able to use both type of cards. Very annoying. I see that QVC has it $10 less and gives more minutes. I know that will easily last me a year. I just don't want to be stuck into the more expensive smartphone only plan going forward since I don't use much data or a smartphone at all. But it is a year, lol. Maybe I should just triple the 640 or look for another phone that can do both cards. I just want something that doesn't have an absolute crap camera. I have to think about it. Thanks again!

So I've decided against using the 640 with triple minute sim since it has an outdated OS and I notice some things like the Store etc are not working properly.

I was thinking what I'd like to get is an unlocked Samsung android phone and then use a triple minute sim with it. Or Maybe an ATT go phone and then unlock it - if one can still easily do that? Maybe the Galaxy prime?

Anyone have an smartphone suggestions (Samsung or otherwise) to use the byop triple minute sim card with? Something in the $99 range - and something that is not terrible if that exists?

I was thinking what I'd like to get is an unlocked Samsung android phone and then use a triple minute sim with it. Or Maybe an ATT go phone and then unlock it - if one can still easily do that? Maybe the Galaxy prime?

Using an AT&T GoPhone (now called AT&T Prepaid) for BYOP is the way to go:
1. An AT&T Prepaid phone often costs less than a factory-unlocked phone.
2. You can get a free unlock code from AT&T if you plan to use the phone with another carrier in the future. But if you just want to just it on TF/AT&T, you don't need to get it unlocked at all.
3. The phone will get security and Android updates from AT&T via Wifi. My LG Phoenix 2 bought July 2016 has got a couple of updates and is now running Android 7.0.
4. A BYOP phone/SIM on AT&T is much easier to change/swap than a BYOP phone/SIM on Verizon.

Everyone has different requirements and preferences for a phone, so I won't recommend one.

Wow I didn't know that. So I can buy an AT&T Prepaid phone, take the sim that is in it out and slip the Tracfone BYOP AT&T triple minute sim in it and load it with a 60 minute card and it will work straight off with triple minutes through tracfone as it normally would? That's awesome. I'll research the AT&T prepaid phones then. My Lumia 640 was a go phone and I unlocked it on the AT&T site to use with tmobile. Was $29.99 when I got it. This sounds way easier and better. Thanks.

Using an AT&T GoPhone (now called AT&T Prepaid) for BYOP is the way to go:
1. An AT&T Prepaid phone often costs less than a factory-unlocked phone.
2. You can get a free unlock code from AT&T if you plan to use the phone with another carrier in the future. But if you just want to just it on TF/AT&T, you don't need to get it unlocked at all.
3. The phone will get security and Android updates from AT&T via Wifi. My LG Phoenix 2 bought July 2016 has got a couple of updates and is now running Android 7.0.
4. A BYOP phone/SIM on AT&T is much easier to change/swap than a BYOP phone/SIM on Verizon.

Everyone has different requirements and preferences for a phone, so I won't recommend one.

How do you get a free unlock code from AT&T? All reports I've read indicate that AT&T stopped providing unlock codes around April, 2017, until the phone has been used on AT&T prepaid for 6+ months.

Wow I didn't know that. So I can buy an AT&T Prepaid phone, take the sim that is in it out and slip the Tracfone BYOP AT&T triple minute sim in it and load it with a 60 minute card and it will work straight off with triple minutes through tracfone as it normally would?

Yes, I did that with a Lumia 640, ZTE Maven, and my current LG Phoenix 2. An AT&T Prepaid phone sees a TF/AT&T BYOP SIM as "one of its own".

Yes, I did that with a Lumia 640, ZTE Maven, and my current LG Phoenix 2. An AT&T Prepaid phone sees a TF/AT&T BYOP SIM as "one of its own".

That's great.

Best buy has a few AT&T prepaid options - an iPhone SE 32gb for $139 which is crazy cheap, and iPhone 6 for $199, an LG Phoenix 3 32gb for $49 and a Samsung Galaxy Prime 2 for $129... The SE is tempting but 4 inch screen...

Best buy has a few AT&T prepaid options - an iPhone SE 32gb for $139 which is crazy cheap, and iPhone 6 for $199 and and LG Phoenix 3 32gb for $49 and a Samsung Galaxy Prime 2 for $129... The SE is tempting but 4 inch screen...

You can test and see if what I said is still valid. Take a TF/AT&T BYOP SIM to Best Buy and slip it into one of the demo AT&T Prepaid phones and see if the phone accepts the SIM. The SIM doesn't need to be active. If AT&T now locks their AT&T Prepaid phone to just AT&T Prepaid SIM, then it should ask for an unlock code. If it does not ask for a code, you're good to go.

You can test and see if what I said is still valid. Take a TF/AT&T BYOP SIM to Best Buy and slip it into one of the demo AT&T Prepaid phones and see if the phone accepts the SIM. The SIM doesn't need to be active. If AT&T now locks their AT&T Prepaid phone to just AT&T Prepaid SIM, then it should ask for an unlock code. If it does not ask for a code, you're good to go.

You can test and see if what I said is still valid. Take a TF/AT&T BYOP SIM to Best Buy and slip it into one of the demo AT&T Prepaid phones and see if the phone accepts the SIM. The SIM doesn't need to be active. If AT&T now locks their AT&T Prepaid phone to just AT&T Prepaid SIM, then it should ask for an unlock code. If it does not ask for a code, you're good to go.

As far as I know, THIS still works. AT&T prepaid phones DO still work on AT&T MVNOs.

It's the free unlock code upon request from AT&T that no longer works until used on AT&T prepaid for 6+ months.

There MAY be a way to unlock ANDROID AT&T prepaid phones using an unlock code purchased from an eBay seller, but I'm unclear about that.

I DO know that there are many reports that say unlock codes available on eBay do NOT work for the AT&T prepaid iPhones.